The Van Gogh Museum (Dutch pronunciation: [vɑŋ ˌɣɔx myˈzeːjʏm])[7] is an art museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw.[8]

The museum opened on 3 June 1973. It located in buildings designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa. The museum's collection is the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. In 2013, the museum had 1.4 million visitors, and was the 2nd most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 35th most visited art museum in the world. In 2014, the museum had 1.6 million visitors.

Upon Vincent van Gogh's death in 1890, his work not sold fell into the possession of his brother Theo. Theo died six months after Vincent, leaving the work in the possession of his widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger.[9] Selling many of Vincent's paintings with the ambition of spreading knowledge of his artwork, Johanna maintained a private collection of his works.

The collection was inherited by her son Vincent Willem van Gogh in 1925, eventually loaned to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam where it was displayed for many years, and was transferred to the state-initiated Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962.[9]

Design for a Van Gogh Museum was commissioned by the Dutch government in 1963 to Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld.[10] Rietveld died a year later, and the building was not completed until 1973,[11] when the museum opened its doors.[12]

In 1998 and 1999, the building was renovated by the Dutch architect Martien van Goor[13] and an exhibition wing by the Japanese modernist architect Kisho Kurokawa was added.[14]

Starting in the fall of 2012, the museum was closed for renovations for six months. During this period, 75 works from the collection were shown in the Hermitage Amsterdam.[15]

On September 9, 2013, the museum unveiled a long-lost Van Gogh painting that spent years in a Norwegian attic believed to be by another painter. It is the first full-size canvas by him discovered since 1928. Sunset at Montmajour depicts trees, bushes and sky, painted with Van Gogh's familiar thick brush strokes. It can be dated to the exact day it was painted because he described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, and said he painted it the previous day July 4, 1888.[16]

Art thefts

In 1991, twenty paintings were stolen from the museum, among them Van Gogh's early painting The Potato Eaters. Although the thieves escaped from the building, 35 minutes later all stolen paintings were recovered from an abandoned car. Three paintings – Wheatfield with Crows, Still Life with Bible, and Still Life with Fruit – were severely torn during the theft.[17] Four men, including two museum guards, were convicted for the theft and given six or seven-year sentences.[18] It is considered to be the largest art theft in the Netherlands since the Second World War.[19]

In 2002, two paintings were stolen from the museum, Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen and View of the Sea at Scheveningen.[20] Two Dutchmen were convicted for the theft to four-and-a-half-year sentences, but the paintings were never recovered.[21][22] The museum has offered a reward of €100,000 for information that leads to the recovery of the paintings.[23] The FBI Art Crime Team has listed the robbery on their Top Ten Art Crimes list, and estimates the combined value of the paintings at 30 million US dollars.[24]
Buildings

The museum is situated at the Museumplein in Amsterdam-Zuid, on the Paulus Potterstraat 7, between the Stedelijk Museum and the Rijksmuseum.[25] The museum consists of two buildings, the Rietveld building, designed by Gerrit Rietveld, and the Kurokawa wing, designed by Kisho Kurokawa.[26] The museum offices are housed on Stadhouderskade 55 in Amsterdam-Zuid.[25]

Rietveld building
Staircase in the Rietveld building

The Rietveld building is the main structure of the museum and exhibits the permanent collection. The building has a rectangular floor plan and is four stories high. On the ground floor are a shop, a café, and the introductory part of the art exhibition. The first floor shows the works of Van Gogh grouped chronologically. The second floor gives information about the restoration of paintings and has a space for minor temporary exhibitions. The third floor shows paintings of Van Gogh's contemporaries in relationship to the work of Van Gogh himself.[27]
Kurokawa wing

The Kurokawa wing is used for major temporary exhibitions. The building has an oval floor plan and is three stories high. The entrance to the Kurokawa wing is via an underground tunnel from the Rietveld building.[27][28]
Collection

The Van Gogh Museum has the largest Van Gogh collection in the world. It comprises 200 paintings, 400 drawings, and 700 letters by Vincent van Gogh.[29]

The main exhibition chronicles the various phases of Van Gogh's artistic life.

His selected works from Nuenen (1880–1885):

Avenue of Poplars in Autumn (1884)
The Potato Eaters (1885)

His selected works from Antwerp (1886):

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1886)

His selected works from Paris (1886–1888):

Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin (1887)
Wheat Field with a Lark (1887)
View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic (1887)

His selected works from Arles (1888–1889):

The Zouave (1888)
Bedroom in Arles (1888)
The Yellow House (1888)
Sunflowers (1889)

His selected works from Saint-Rémy (1889–1890):

Almond Blossoms (1890)

And his selected works from Auvers-sur-Oise (1890):

Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

The permanent collection also includes nine of the artist's self-portraits and some of his earliest paintings dating back to 1882.
Works by his contemporaries
Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers (1888) by Paul Gauguin

The museum also features notable art works by Van Gogh's contemporaries in the Impressionist and post-Impressionist movements and holds extensive exhibitions on various subjects from 19th Century art history.

The Van Gogh Museum, which is a national museum (Dutch: rijksmuseum),[35] is a foundation (Dutch: stichting).[6]

Axel Rüger has been the museum director since 2006.[6][36]

Since 2000, the museum had between 1.2 and 1.7 million visitors per year.[31][32][33][34] From 2010 to 2012, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands.[37][38][39] In 2013, the museum had 1,448,997 visitors,[34] it was the 2nd most visited museum in the Netherlands, after the Rijksmuseum,[40] and the 35th most visited art museum in the world.[41]

The Van Gogh Museum is a member of the Museumvereniging (Museum Association).[42]
References